Holly found this dachshund-schipperke mix on some crazy dog shelter web site.




It was always Brownie's dream to "have" Sammie one day... and make his own little doxy-skip abominations. Ah, Brownie. Crazy mutts.
excellent... yow, bill

Labels: fun

So, now Putin says that Russia invaded Georgia because, um, Dick Cheney made him do it.
Is Putin on staff over there at CNN or MSNBC or something? Did Moz put him up to this?
Putin blames Cheney

Well gol dang it, Cheney... did it again. I look forward to the Bill Moyers PBS special (that we'll all pay for). Maybe an earnest interview with Putin on the evil W administration... yes!

QOTD

"Russia does not feel isolated and is not afraid to be isolated,"
- Yevgeniy Chizhov, the Russian ambassador in Brussels

Mother Russia... nobody does Orwell better.
Thank god, they're incompetent.
so far... yow, bill

PS - Great article about the dollar that I can't find now. The dollar is rebounding against the Euro and will continue to do so. Why? Because the US economy is fundamentally superior to those in Europe (Germany, France, etc). Interesting theory, that makes a lot of sense.

Labels: politics, qotd

John Kerry spoke at the Dem convention last night.
Hilarious recap here: Kerry settles scores in 2004 do-over

Kerry settles score? 2004 do-over?
This article gaily perpetuates the myth that Kerry lost because of some wacky repub smear tactic or something, rather than his complete absence of personality.

Kerry harps on some of the McCain flipflops he's done since becoming a candidate for prez. Yeah, McCain's record is a doozy. And Kerry rightly points that out.
Alas, however, the repub retort (repub retort?) is the QOTD.

QOTD

"John Kerry descended into a parody of himself tonight, when he explained that he was actually for John McCain before he was against him."
- Alex Conant, some repub hack after Kerry's speech bashing McCain.

Jeez, man... good one.

I haven't watched a minute of convention... phew. We'll see about tonight thought, with Barry speaking. Maybe over a margarita at Pepe's. We'll see.
tequila sunrise... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball. South side"
- Barry O'Bama, sox fan

And yeah, I won't be voting for Derrek Lee either...

QOTD2

"I mean, he's right. I think most of the fans there are just there to enjoy the experience, and, uh, drink beer. I mean, is that not true?"
- Derrek Lee, on Barry's above QOTD

Hey D-Lee... I'd concentrate a little more on hitting with runners in scoring position. Lee has already hit into a MLB-leading 24 double-plays this year. Jeez, 3 more double-plays and that's a whole extra game's worth of outs from the Cub under-achieving 1B.

I will say this about Wrigley Field. It is less fun than it used to be. That's a product of it's off-the-chart popularity. The Cub "magic" may return if (when?) they crash and burn, in unique and spectacular fashion this year. We shall see.

A couple more baseball quickies:

1. Baseball starts doing instant replay tomorrow: "The Baseball Replay Redux". I guess this is what's called "getting old." Instant replay has detracted from the game of football. It adds nothing to baseball. It's a step toward more automation... why in the world would this technology only be applicable to calling home runs. It's a step away from what makes the game special... old school, the human element. Everyone but me wants it, so fuck me.
2. Mark Cuban is on the list of 5 guys in the running to buy the Cub. I can't/won't ever forget or forgive Cuban (not that he's asking) for the anti-American hatchet job that was the movie "Redacted." So, if Cuban buys the Cub... I don't know. Hey, maybe they'll instant replay every gol dang call on the field, and then I won't want to watch any more. How's that for a compromise?
   

I remember back in 1969...
cub win and lose... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd, sports

QOTD

"Shut the fuck up!"
- David Mamet, his NPR epiphany

5 bill-star, off the chart article by David Mamet:


I'm not worthy of a summary. Read it. But here's my favorite sentence in the QOTD below.

QOTD2

"And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart?"
- David Mamet, on the conflict between his core belief that people are good and an everything sucks" liberal philosophy

I must admit I've rarely listened to NPR. I can't understand the affectation in the voices of anyone on NPR. It's bizarre. I guess if you listen to it long enough... I'll pass, thanks. I'd love to pass on paying for the dump, but that's a different can of worms.

Now, go watch Mamet's finest work, "Glengarry Glen Ross".
Rating: 5 bill-stars.
Glengarry has a memorable quotes list that rivals "The Grail".
It might be an all-time top 10... I'd have to do the list to be sure.
coffee is for closers only... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, movies, politics, qotd

QOTD

"I just want to say this. Thank you, Mr. President - for your inspiration! We love you."
- One of the beach volleyball girls above (who cares which), thanking W after winning the gold.

This isn't a W post.
It's nice. Positive. I like it.

On another positive note (well, sort of)... wouldn't be delicious if Barry loses to McCain in November. I mean it'd be like a real-life who-ville... Europe and the media and dang. Not because McCain is so great, but because there's a sense of Barry being entitled or anointed President.

In fact, it's even better because McCain isn't great. He's old and cranky and unattractive and a military guy and not charismatic and shit, even the repubs don't really like him. All this and handsome, young, charismatic Barry still loses. I mean, I'm not saying it's going to happen... I'm just saying. It just brings a big, big involuntary smile to my grinchy mug.

Man, that would be just Delicious.
yum yum... yow, bill

PS - News headline of the day: "Co-author of '100 Things to Do Before You Die' dies at 47"... now, I'm sorry... dammit that's funny.
PPS - And 47. Too young. Cough.

Labels: politics, qotd, sports

QOTD

“I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the- job-training.”
- Joe Biden on Barry... from a McCain ad (can't find the original quote date)

And Biden voted for the Iraq War:
www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&vote=00237&session=2

And didn't both Gore and Kerry pick loser Senators as veep candidates (Kerry and Edwards, respectively)?

Ah, politics.

It's August 25th.

• The Cub have won their last 8 series.
  
• The Cub are 30 games above .500 at 80-50.
  
• The Cub have the best record in baseball (Tampa and Anaheim are at 79-50... best in the NL are the Mutts at 72-59)
• The Cub lead the NL Central b y4 1/2 games.
  

This is worth pasting the current NL Central standings:

		W	L	Pct	GB
Chi Cubs		80	50	.615	--
Milwaukee		76	55	.580	4.5
St. Louis		73	59	.553	8.0
Houston		66	64	.508	14.0
Pittsburgh		57	73	.438	23.0
Cincinnati		57	74	.435	23.5

And F "the curse", Rich Harden in 8 starts for the Cub: 49 IP, 28 hits, 14 walks, 70 K, 1.47 ERA, and a 0.162 BAA. You go girl!
huzzah... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd, sports

QOTD

"google biden plagiarism"
- typed by me and millions of others this morning

Barry selects Joe Biden as veep this morning.

Huh?

Yeah, old Joe Biden, who plagiarized a stump speech way back in 1988... and others, I guess.
That's not the big problem though. Biden could be second to Teddy Kennedy in arrogance in the Senate. He's been there since 1972. Think about that. If you had you're ass kissed for 35 years, you might have a couple screws loose as well.

Plus, now you've got two guys, Senators, who haven't run a dang thing their entire lives.

I bumped into a Barry guy, who will remain nameless (Ed), and he gave a short, cogent, unemotional reason why he's probably voting for Barry (the first I've heard?). The story: I remarked on Barry's lack of experience, and Ed quickly noted that McCain's experience wasn't all that hot. Touche!

Barry's no experience versus McCain's crappy experience. Barry's promise to tax the fucking paint off the walls and McCain who voted against W's tax cuts. Barry's appeasement versus McCain's confrontation.

I will probably vote experience, but Ed's right... McCain's "experience" is a crappy hodge-podge.
not a senator... yow, bill

PS - Biden and Teddy Kennedy... aren't I clever?

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"It was the most impressive athletic performance I’ve ever seen in my life."
- former Olympian Michael Johnson, on Usain Bolt winning both the 100 and 200 meter races in world record time

Well, it was the most impressive track performance I've ever seen. It wasn't that Bolt won or set world records or whatever, it's that he did it effortlessly and didn't even run through the entire race. You can see in the photo below he's clowning and turning to the crowd in the middle of the dang run. It was weird to see a guy crush the field of sprinters and set a world record seemingly without even putting his pedal all the way to the metal.


The Olympics have been better this year in part because of the stories and China's grandiose display, but mostly because NBC is covering it better this time around. They're concentrating on the events rather than "up close and personal" stories or Bob Costas interviews, etc.
bolt... yow, bill

PS - Michael Johnson's famous gold shoes from... was it 1996, I think?

Labels: qotd, sports

QOTD

... the US is "the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it's just a sense of pride that you have; that you say, 'You know what? Our country is the best.' "
- Kobe Bryant, at the Olympics from WSJ article, "Our Country Is the Best"

Good for you Kobe.


Same day in the WSJ, Barry questions Clarence Thomas' qualifications to be on the Supreme Court in "Obama on Clarence Thomas".

Um, Barry. Schnookums. The Naperville dog catcher has more qualifications and experience than you do to be President, so let's not go there, OK.
woof... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd, sports

QOTD

"Tell the recession where to go"
- Miller High Life billboard... which I can't find a picture of, dang it all

Gold dang it, the WSJ hit the cover off the ball twice yesterday.

First, check out The Great Depression Hoax - a great WSJ article about the hysteria over recession, depression, armageddon, etc currently being pumped by the media.

This is a related to this recession fever: Some sanctimonious, whiny blog entry
I found this guy (chick?) googling for that beer/recession billboard image (QOTD above) that has, thus far, eluded me. This guy's mortally offended by a beer billboard because he's hunkering down and everyone else is too dumb (or drunk?) to figure out what this genius has about saving money and spending less and blah blah blah.

This intolerance. This weird passive aggressive morality. It seems pervasive these days. It's the same small, nabob-y thinking that accompanies banning smoking in bars, and seat belt laws, and green ridiculousness, and... Dude, let people advertise and drink and buy the fucking lawn furniture they want to. OK? Buddy, if you're so damn smart, then rejoice in your beer-free, recession-hearty approach to the fairly minor economic doldrums that we are currently in. You will reap the benefits of your behavior, and all the dolts wasting their money on Miller High Life won't have life as good as you. Huzzah!

Now, here's an old school Miller ad. When (and why) did they stop using hot chicks in beer ads?


Second up from the journal, Gang Green - just read it. Outstanding.

I was at my running club and a guy next to me smiles and nods his head (in preparation for group acceptance) and spontaneously offers that he thought about it and he is astonished at how much garbage he "produces". Now, I hope I didn't go off on the guy (that's code for... I went off on the guy), but I told him to relax and that he should know better than to fall for this nonsense. He was older than I am, and shit, we've done this one before... the "we're running out of landfill" hysteria! Back in the 70's there was this story pumped endlessly about some municipality that was shopping its garbage... in New Jersey, I think. The same silliness in the (overrated) movie WallE.

Great paragraph about garbage and landfills from "Gang Green":

Many studies have shown that the environmental benefits from household recycling are minimal or at least highly exaggerated (because it uses a lot of energy and those recycling trucks emit a lot of greenhouse gases). America is not in danger of ever running out of landfill to store our garbage. For example, a study by Daniel Benjamin, an economist at Clemson, finds that we could store all of America's garbage for the next century within the property of Ted Turner's ranch in Montana, with 50,000 acres undisturbed for the horse and bison.

The best.
That's a great idea... a national landfill on Ted Turner's ranch in Montana.
Ted Turner has a restaurant in downtown Naperville (yeah, here it is Ted's Montana Grill... they have a great, real turkey dinner you can get on Sunday nights), and they proudly advertise that their straws are made out of paper. Woo-hoo. Al Gore bless them!
Um, does that mean my dinner costs more or less?

QOTD2

"Well, when he lies, he blinks twice. I first noticed it when he did that Barbara Walters interview, and he said he'd be with Jane Fonda forever"
- Peter Griffin, "Family Guy" on knowing when Ted Turner is blufing in poker

all in... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"We're going to be adding cameras as we go forward."
- Ray Kelly, NYPD commissioner

NYPD wants to track everything that comes in and out of Mahattan. Jeez, if this one doesn't chill you to the bone...

Did I say "jeez" already? Jeez:

• Cameras will track photograph and then stash in some database the license plate of every vehicle entering Manhattan.
• They're adding 3,000 cameras to lower Manhattan. The article doesn't say what these cameras will be tracking and stashing away.

Blago, the idiot governor of Illinois, is trying to add cameras to our highways: Gov says: Say cheese, speeders. The motivation: It'll raise millions of dollars more for Blago and the boys to spend.

Hey, I have an idea! We could also raise money by putting cameras outside bars and restaurants and catching people smoking within 15 feet of the entrance. Think of the children!
cheese... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

This is too funny. From tech.yahoo.com/blog/hughes/11844, the top 10 passwords are:

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace 1
8. password 1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

This is actually a book review: online.wsj.com/article/SB121841410386328473.html
The book is called "Scared Senseless". Read the last couple paragraphs about second-hand smoke. I gotta post more more on this because I'll bet you could virtually prove the second-hand smoke thing is all completely overblown (aka bullshit).

QOTD

"The study found "no evidence of an elevated risk of coronary heart disease or lung cancer" in the nonsmoking spouses of smokers."
- Geoffrey C. Kabatfrom his book "Scared Senseless"

Those American Spirits (to the right) are tasty.

Just let people decide what they want to do. It's called freedom.
Worst case, you regulate... but don't ban shit.
Why are we surrounded by people seemingly aching to their core to reproduce prohibition?
puff puff give... yow, bill

Labels: qotd, smoking, technology

QOTD

"That was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done."
- Lance Armstrong, in 2006 on running his first marathon

I just finished running 15 miles in about 2 hours... my "long run" for marathon training this weekend.
The weather this morning was beautiful: sunny, maybe 60, pretty low humidity.
I felt strong after 15 miles. Shoot, I feel great.

The problem: I think I might still be "weak".
I may not be strong enough to do well on the last 6 miles of the marathon.

I ran into a marathon guy on vacation in DC. He saw my "training for Lakefront" t-shirt. Anyway, I told him my "it was hot last year" sob story and about how I was going to run right through the last 6 miles of the marathon this year... weather (and global warming, cough) willing.
The guy was nice, but you could tell he thought I was a delusional mope. "The last 6 miles are completely different," he said. In other words, I am fooling myself.

Well, we shall see. I am very motivated to do well... so that I don't do this again next year. Ha!
I came up with this (bogus) grading system while running:

• less than 3 1/2 hours... A (shit, A+ actually cause then I get to do Boston)
• <= 3 hour 45 minutes... B
• <= 4 hours... C
• > 4 hours... D
• Don't finish for some reason... F
  

Strong. Or weak?
run faster... yow, bill

Labels: marathon, qotd

QOTD

"Elizabeth didn't do anything wrong.
I not only didn't ask her to be here. I asked her not to be here.
I have to be the man and take responsibility."
- John Edwards, Aug 2008 on why his wife wasn't with him at his affair interview

So, the John Edwards love child story is true... well, at least the affair part.
I don't know if this is a "permanent" (ha) link, but here's John Edwards ABC interview about the mess. You can skip ahead 4 1/2 minutes to get to Edwards.
There's no need to toss bricks at Edwards, but some notions (in order of importance):

1. I give Edwards a lot of credit for not bringing his wife to the interview. There's nothing crappier than dragging the old lady up in front of the media while you confess your "mistakes". Kudos to Edwards on this one.
   
2. Edwards is (was?) my least favorite politician. His affectation drove me crazy, and I just scratch my head that his supporters or whatever could listen to this guy and not get it [affectation: "conspicuous artificiality of manner or appearance"], but whatever. I'll give it up in this interview though. It's the first time I recall ever feeling that Edwards was being open and honest.
   
3. What if this guy got the nomination? His explanation for not caring about this was that John McCain had an affair in the late 1800's. Huh? That's ridiculous. If Edwards was the nominee and this came out, then yikes...
4. How about ABC, and the other alphabet media outlets blowing off the story. I "get" that you don't buy the National Enquirer and then schlock it up on the 6:00 news, but you do check it out, right? I mean, this story rang true as a bell from the get go. So why didn't some eager beaver at ABC, CBS, NBC track it down and get a huge story? Would it have gone down that way if Romney had a girlfriend? Got me.
5. I watched about 15 minutes of talking heads on this. Dems cirlced the wagons, which is fine. Blah blah. A couple fun questions remain: What if Edwards is lying about the kid being his? What if Edwards has funnelled money from his campaign to this chick? Will the regular-old media now press this story and answer these questions? Why was he in a hotel room with this chick late at night just a couple weeks ago?

QOTD2

"Hey, this isn't a faux dive. It's a dive!"
- Yuppies at Moe's bar on the Simpsons

I did a bizarre, spontaneous retro triple shot in Lisle with Kim39 last night:

• Lisle Bowl - home to some Bill Krieger birthday parties in the mid 70's... the only thing that's changed is the proliferation of "No Smoking" and "Don't wear your bowling shoes outside" signs. Get it. You can't smoke indoors, so people were walking out to the parking lot in their rented shoes. He he.
• Rayme's - a time warp supper club complete with paneling and as advertised "king-sized cocktails"... we had fried asparagus?!?
• Maple Avenue Pub - a dive... a fun dive
  

I have got to get this shit onto Yelp. What a time warp!
yow, bill

PS - Girls beach volleyball is on the Olympics right now. It looks like W is an honorary coach or something. Woot!

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"There's a reason you've never heard of bus rage"
- Greyhound marketing campaign slogan... um, keep reading

I nominate this story for two awards... best marketing story and funniest beheading:

And I gotta give props to boys at the AP (for once)... nice attention to detail: Chinese immigrant, carnival worker, desolate section of Canadian highway, showing off the head, and then "hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them".

You meet such interesting people on the bus. Jeez.

And now for something completely different...

Book: "I am Legend"
Author: Richard Matheson
Review: 4 bill-stars

This book is the inspiration for the movie of the same name and also the far superior "The Omega Man". Will Smith is OK, but dang, he's no Chuck Heston.

Anyway, the book is better than both with a nice subtle explanation/revelation for the title at the very end. Sweet read.
hack... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, qotd

Two books... both about Chicago around the turn of the 19th century.
Two very different results and reviews. Go!

Book: "Sin in the Second City"
Review: 1 bill-star
Web site: www.sininthesecondcity.com

First off, I didn't know this was nonfiction. Dop.
Second, this book is a great example of taking an exciting, titillating story and turning it into a bore. Yawn.
I read the book over my NYNY/DC vacation with Ty. I was a captive audience, so I finished it.

I only bought the thing because it looked like it had a tie in to the excellent "Devil in the White City". Speaking of...

Book: "Devil in the White City"
Review: 5 bill-stars
Web site: www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I don't usually go gaga for historical fiction, but this was great.

Both books are published by Random House.
I guess a .500 batting average ain't bad.
done... yow, bill

Labels: 1star, 5stars, books

QOTD

"Honest Dave?"
- Ty Krieger, July 2008, Washington DC, responding to "Hey, there's Honest Abe", my pointing out the Lincoln Memorial

That was quote of the vacation, actually. We laughed for five minutes.

It's Sunday morning... my first morning back at The Castle from my bachelor/baseball vacation (NYNY and DC) with Ty. This post is the first of a few, I suspect. Oh, that reminds me...

QOTD2

"The only thing better than vacation is being home."
- Bill Krieger

One of the absolute highlights of the trip was, obviously, the Air & Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institute.

We went on this Ducks Tour where you ride around DC in one of those ducks deals like at Wisconsin Dells. They drive around the streets or plop right in the water. It was fun (and I highly recommend it), until the guy handed out these loud, obnoxious "quackers" about halfway through the trip and then it got loud and stupid. Before that, however, the tour guide (Captain Franklin) said that the Smithsonian was funded by this guy Smithson who bequeathed $500K back in the early 1800's to the US, even though he never actually came here. $500K back in the day, um way back, was worth about $30 BILLION today, according to our duck captain.

Well, that sounded odd, so I looked up Smithson on Wikipedia.

• He did leave the dough to the US, but indirectly. It went to the US only because his nephew had no children.
• There is less known about this deal because a bunch of Smithson's stuff went up in a fire in the 1800's.
  
• His will was contested in British court, but the US won.
• The US finally got paid with 11 crates containing 100,000+ gold sovereigns. Excellent.
  
• Most amazing of all... Congress didn't crap the money away. They actually started the Smithsonian and the rest is history. If something like that happened today, it'd be gobbled up on anti-smoking ads or "green" projects or something stupid. He he.
  

Anyway, like I said... the first of a few posts on our awesome vacation.
peace... yow, bill

Labels: qotd, travel